The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to wireless systems, and more particularly to a wireless sensor system with a dynamic heartbeat message rate.
In a wireless sensor system, wireless sensor nodes communicate with a server to provide both status information and sensor data. Messages sent from the wireless sensor nodes are typically referred to as heartbeat messages, as they are periodic and indicate that the wireless sensor nodes are operating. Heartbeat message transmission consumes energy, which in turn, reduces battery life of the wireless sensor nodes. A faster heartbeat message rate consumes energy at a faster rate. A slower heartbeat message rate decreases data transfer rate and increases data transfer latency.